Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Good Livers

One of the great things about the internet is that it gives members of the Stickmen (meaning me and Bill) our very own public forum in which to air all of our dirty laundry... and our reflections.

One thing that I've NEVER had the chance to clear up, or even make sense of, is something I said in an interview many years ago. (cue bill fischer scrambling for his video archive suitcases) It was taken in the Fischer Fambly kitchen, and it was the one where I was talking about what the community wants, which is "good livers".

What was no doubt lost on the audience and band members, was the fact that I was being ironic. Well, maybe I was just trying to be funny, but I was riffing on the anglacization of the phrase 'bon vivant'. Just in case you don't think I'm smart enough to make this stuff up, here's a link to its definition:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bon%20vivant

As you'll notice from the website, it's someone who basically "lives large", in the parlance of our times. And if there were ever a collection of folks who do just that, it for sure was the Stickmen. Right???

As someone who speaks French pretty well, I can tell you that stuff doesn't always translate perfectly. So while dictionary.com list the definition of "bon vivant" one way, the literal translation is "good liver". Of course, that doesn't mean "liver", as in the organ that processes booze. It means "liver", as in "liver of life". Though I suppose a transplant recipient could very well utter that phrase in reference to said aforementioned internal organ, but I digress.

Fact is, I knew exactly what I was saying.

Consider the record now set straight.

2 comments:

Swamptooth said...

I had no idea ...

This is a valuable cautionary tale; you never know when an interviewee is going to drop des bon mots on you.

(And here I thought it was just a good opportunity to cut to Andy Lientz downing a pitcher at Friar Tuck's!)

MattMunson said...

Well, there you have it, bro-ham. Proof that silence is deadly. Well, not really proof, but you know what I mean. Right?

But on a serious note, I think the real danger in interviewing members of the Stickmen is a fear of dropped trousers, not bon mots. A quick review of Halloween II will prove this.

I seem to be very "proof" oriented today. I think this stems from a few documents I've been writing where I'm trying to argue my position using the outdated (and possibly business irrelevant) tools of logic and reason. So I'm sort of 'in the zone', as the kids are saying today.

Hey, how about a transcript of that interview. You got one handy???